Lost in Hollywood: The Fast Times and Short Life of River Phoenix

If the deluge of tabloid stories about River Phoenix's death from a drug overdose only whetted your appetite for dirty details about the actor's life, you'll find plenty of juice in Lost in Hollywood. Yet Glatt, the author of Rage and Roll: Bill Graham and the Selling of Rock, also tries to give this book a serious facade; it's replete with (amateur) psychoanalysis, references to Rimbaud, and a bibliography. He traces Phoenix's problems to his childhood (natch), which he spent in a Christian cult. Besides sending children out to beg, the group encouraged spouse swapping and preschool sex, Glatt reports. Disenchanted, the family finally left in 1978. Soon, however, River's mother came up with an unusual new plan to save the world: She would push her children into show business and use their visibility to preach the family's message. His mission determined, Phoenix quickly advanced from parts in commercials to film roles. But noble ulterior motives and his wholesome vegan image notwithstanding, Phoenix wasn't able to just say no. Although Glatt tries to pin the blame on rapacious hangers-on and the pressures of Hollywood, the case he makes is tenuous. If you, like, have a huge crush on River Phoenix, this is indeed titillating stuff, but ultimately the book doesn't rise far enough above its schlock-bio brethren. (Mar.)